Blindsided

Merry-Go-Round of Life

Song is Merry Go Round Of Life from Howl's Moving Castle (Kalimba Cover) by April Yang on YouTube. I love the atmosphere of it, it's so soothing and soft. <3

Massive thanks to Dotemms for her beta work and the Hole People for their voting on the events in this chapter! Love you guys!

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  The wind rustled the leaves of the trees, their gentle murmuring a balm for the soul. The summer sun shone warm on the skin, the smell of the flowers in the garden a heady perfume on the breeze, and the clover was thick and cool underfoot. The sky was filled with whisps of clouds, a brilliant cerulean frothed with white feathers that did nothing to conceal the shining disk of the sun.

  Ruv carried a basket and picked his way through the orchard, thinning out subpar fruit from the trees and checking for signs of blight or other disease. The kids were weaving in and out of the rows, Selever at one point jumping a few seconds to get ahead of Ras in their game. Ruv was honestly relieved; Sel was still practicing but he'd had a big enough scare that he'd stopped jumping for arbitrary reasons. He was just reflecting to himself that it wouldn't be a bad idea to start teaching the kids how to defend themselves when he felt Sarv hug him from behind.

  "Hey love," he said, turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. She was smiling, nuzzling into the curve of his back.

  "Hey, you wanna do something tonight? Just the two of us?" She squeezed him gently. "Our last attempt at a date kinda ended badly. I'd like to just have a nice time with you, even if it's just a movie and popcorn."

  "What did you have in mind," he asked, returning to his work. She hummed in thought.

  "There's a small street fair happening in the city. Sel and Ras are talking about having a movie night so they shouldn't get into too much trouble."

  "Sounds good," he said, dusting off his hands. He stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly. "Sel! Get your sister and come here, would you?"

  Rapid footfalls heralded their arrival as the kids whipped around the corner. Rasazy made a daring jump and tackled Selever to the ground, kicking up dust as they both laughed and he planted a noogie on her head much to her protest.

  "Sup Dad," Selever said, picking himself up and dusting himself off. He held out a hand to his sister, bringing an indulgent smile to Sarv's face. Ruv crossed his arms.

  "Your mom and I are going out tonight. You guys can stay home and watch tv, don't do anything stupid." He tossed something at Sel, who caught it and whooped.

  "You guys got me a phone! Sweet!"

  "That's only for emergencies," Sarvente said sternly, "So don't go abusing the privilege or it gets taken away and you're grounded. And check in with us regularly!"

  He hummed noncommittally, already turning it on and flipping through the settings. He then pulled in his sister and flipped on the selfie camera. "Smile, Ras!"

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  The city block that had been cordoned off for the fair was crowded, a teeming mass of humanity with rides, food trucks, and stands with the typical carnival games with cheap stuffed animals dotting the crowd. Ruv walked away from the ticket stand, his hands in his pockets as Sarv was buying cotton candy.

  Sarv had asked him to leave off his ushanka and had glamoured his ribbon black to be less conspicuous, and he was feeling rather exposed with his lavender hair shining in the late afternoon sunlight. She'd chosen a soft-looking pink dress printed with sequined strawberries, with black socks and her boots and also had him pin back her hair in a half-updo with little pink and black barrettes, claiming he got it smoother but probably just wanting an excuse for him to play with her hair.